On the hunt for New Zealand’s best international businesses

14 May 2014: Entries open today
for the 2015 New Zealand International Business Awards,
which celebrate the success of New Zealand businesses on the
world stage and recognise professional excellence and
innovative practice. While the Awards ceremony will be held
in March next year, businesses will need to be quick off the
mark with entries closing June 11th 2014.

The Awards
programme, run by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE)
with support from Strategic Partner ANZ, celebrates the
passion and vision of New Zealand’s most outstanding
global businesses and business leaders – andbenchmarks the
contribution they make to growing New Zealand’s
economy.

The programme features a new Award category,
He kai kei aku ringa for Māori Excellence in Export.
The category recognises the contribution Māori business is
making to the New Zealand export economy – the approach,
values and tikanga that underpin and uniquely define Māori
business.

NZTE Board member Robin Hapi says the category
has been created to recognise the value Māori bring to New
Zealand’s export economy - through business, investment,
labour, innovation, resources, brand stories and
values.

“Māori are heavily invested in the primary
sector and other key export industries. This category will
raise the profile of that contribution and encourage
innovation and greater participation in the export
economy.”

Elsewhere, the special categories have been
streamlined to reflect excellence across Innovation,
Marketing, Operations, Design and Leadership.

Also new
this year is a pitch and tender training session for all
entrants. Delivered by private sector advisors, the session
will give entrants a taste of business development best
practice by providing insights, as well as tried and tested
techniques to support them in winning more business
internationally. While all entrants will benefit from the
session, finalists will have the opportunity to put the
training to use when they pitch their business to the
judging panel to receive a frank assessment of their
strategy and future direction.

Finalists will also have a
session with NZTE’s Better by Capital team to explore or
accelerate growth finance options, while all entrants will
receive two months access to research from the Awards’
independent assessors, Frost & Sullivan.

Past winners of
the Supreme Award have included Beca, Orion Health and 2013
winner Tru-Test.

Tru-Test Group Business Development
Manager Brendan O’Connell says the recognition “really
adds to the introduction” internationally.

“It helps
people assess where the business fits, especially if it’s
people overseas and they see that in our home market we’re
getting good recognition.”

He adds that as a result of
the analysis enabled by the Award process, the company had
to look deeper and think long and hard about its business
strategy, and how it could be applied to other potential
markets.

"The real benefit of the Awards process was the
opportunity to judge ourselves on each aspect of the
business. You have a first swipe at where you think you
score, and then you look at what 'better' and 'worse' would
look like. This gives you a framework to think, 'are we
truly doing well in this area?’”

“The Awards build profile, and recognise what
has worked (and what hasn’t). They also help companies
take a deeper dive into their business, to refine their
strategy for growth.”

ANZ New Zealand's Managing
Director, Institutional Banking, David Green, says: "ANZ is
proud to have been the Strategic Partner of the New Zealand
International Business Awards since 2009. In this time the
Awards have celebrated a number of outstanding businesses
and individuals who have succeeded in pursuing opportunities
to grow in offshore markets.”

The Awards judges will be
looking for companies that show courage, drive and
innovation to build successful international businesses.
Judges will want to see how businesses are taking an idea to
market, how they have overcome obstacles to get to where
they are today, and how they are nurturing the business and
preparing for future growth.

The categories for the 2015
New Zealand International Business Awards
are:

General categories for International
Business

• ANZ Best Business Operating
Internationally – Under $10million

• ANZ Best
Business Operating Internationally – $10-$50million

•
ANZ Best Business Operating Internationally – Over
$50million

•

Special categories for
International Business

• Excellence in
Innovation

supported by AJ Park

•
Excellence in Marketing

supported by AUT Business
School

• Excellence in
Operations

supported by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
& Trade (MFAT)

• Excellence in
Design

supported by Special Group

•
He kai kei aku ringa for Māori Excellence in
Export

supported by The Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Te Puni Kōkiri, The
Treasury

• Excellence in
Leadership

supported by KPMG

The deadline for
stage one entries is Wednesday 11 June 2014. Winners will be
announced at a black tie ceremony on 25 March 2015 in
Auckland.

To enter the New Zealand International Business
Awards visit www.nziba.co.nz

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